Al-Azhar grand imam calls ISIS a ‘Zionist plot’

The head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, on Monday said that so-called ‘Islamic State’ (IS) militants are “criminals” who serve a “Zionist” plot to “destroy the Arab world.”

Complaining that the IS has “tarnished” the image of Muslims to the world, al-Tayyeb was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP) saying “These fundamentalist terrorist groups, whatever their names, and their backers are colonial creations that serve Zionism in its plot to destroy the Arab world.”

Fighters from the IS, who already control of parts of Syria, captured the northern Iraq city of Mosul in June and then surged across the north of Iraq, taking control of a number of predominantly Sunni cities.